‘Singapore is not boring’: Meet the urban explorer revealing the city's hidden stories

Ho Yong Min, widely known as The Urbanist, has gained a growing following by uncovering the hidden stories behind Singapore's streets, buildings, and public spaces. Many people walking along Telok Ayer Street today might not realize they are standing where Singapore's shoreline once was. However, to Ho, a former urban planner, clues to the area's history are all around if you know where to look.

Telok Ayer, meaning "bay water" in Malay, was once a bay that greeted immigrants arriving by boat. The Thian Hock Keng Temple, built in 1842, reflects this maritime past with repeated inscriptions of the Chinese character for "boat" on a stone tablet. The temple's orientation and street names also hint at the area's history as a point of entry for new arrivals.

The urban explorer, who founded The Urbanist Singapore, a platform dedicated to heritage storytelling and urban design, has built a substantial audience through social media videos, guided walks, and school programs. His content often begins with simple questions about everyday features most people overlook. One popular video explained the reason for an escalator dip in the underground CityLink Mall, revealing its connection to the Stamford Canal that once washed clothes.

The canal's path influenced the development of the area, including the creation of Dhoby Ghaut, an area named after Indian laundry workers who washed clothes there before drying them on the grounds where Singapore Management University's School of Economics now stands.

When Ho shared his video explaining the canal's influence on the mall's design, he was surprised by the response, receiving over 700,000 views on TikTok and more than 130,000 views on Instagram. Many viewers, he said, gained a new perspective on a place they thought they knew well.

For Ho, exploring Singapore's urban landscape and its stories is more than a side project. After leaving his corporate job as an associate director of education strategy at the Singapore Management University, he now dedicates himself to content production, research, heritage guiding, and working with students. He aims to nurture a lasting curiosity about the places around them, hoping to help younger generations fall in love with Singapore all over again.